Blood Wrong

Tipping the bottle over and watching the lukewarm contents pour out into the grass at the edge of the pond... until it was only a sad slow drip or two. Too often that same elixir had deadened the pain, pushed it aside so that it could be forgotten, if only for a little while. It made it easier to do things that were hard to do when the mind wasn't fogged with alcohol, like forget and pretend. Pretend that what happened hadn't happened, that it was all just imagination or a bad dream. Yeah... but it was neither, it was all true and too real to keep pushing away and forgetting. Sobriety, like the sunrise of the new day always brought back the clarity and the pain.

Tom now had a new clarity though. What aunt Deeny had revealed to him was nothing short of a miracle he thought. Now things could be different, he didn't have to feel shame or any kind of fear or regret for being in love with his sister... she wasn't really his sister, at least not by blood. They had the wrong blood! Yes, they had grown up together as brother and sister, but they were not related in fact. And in the eyes of the law and any logical thinking person they could be together... they could... get married! They could be and have a family! Now all Tom had to do was to find Addy and let her know as well. She had left over two weeks ago... she could be anywhere. Tom slowly smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages. His right hand reached up and tapped the breast pocket of his shirt that contained the last letter Addy had written to him.

Three weeks later...

It was another beautiful sunset, the shushing sound of the surf washing in and out on the white sandy beach. Addy squinted her eyes as she looked towards the fiery red ball descending on the horizon. The keening sound of guls gliding along on the salty breeze blowing in from the gulf was almost like music to her ears. Addy walked barefoot in the warm sand along the break line where the surf ended its advance onto the shore. She had discovered that it was easier to walk on the wet sand, and earlier in the day she would have been there because the water cooled her feet. But as evening approached the dry sand was warmer and felt better. Her walk was slow, ambling and almost listless. As beautiful as all this was, it just couldn't fill the void she still felt in her heart. If only...

It was the fifteenth time he'd come to this beach, the fifteenth day he had spent going up and down the shore visiting all the beaches along this stretch of the coast. Tom was beginning to think that perhaps he had got it wrong. Maybe She hadn't come to Panama City after all. His hopes were beginning to fade into despair... a feeling he was all too familiar with. "One more day." He had told himself, "One more day and then I'll move down the coast and look some more.

With his hands stuffed despondently into the front pockets of his jeans, Tom walked along the edge of the dunes. The sand in his shoes was a barely noticed nuisance after over two weeks. He kept reminding himself to raise his hanging head and look around now and then. So far there had only been a couple of fleetingly hopeful sightings... only to be dashed when he neared a girl who looked like his sister from a distance. Although it pained his heart each time this happened, he vowed to keep looking. He no longer heard the keening sounds of the guls overhead, or even the shushing sound of the surf washing ashore and receding again into the gulf... just the muffled sound of his shoes trudging through the soft white sand. The sun was at his back and he was sure by now that his neck was turning to leather after being exposed day in and day out.

Tom nearly tripped over his own feet when his foot came down on the edge of a fair-sized sand crab. The disturbed shellfish raised his claws defensively and skittered sideways out of Tom's path. Somewhat amused, Tom stood still and followed it with his eyes as the crab moved towards the water several yards away. It was then that he saw the woman clutching a gauzy scarf about her neck walking slowly at the edge of the wet/dry sand divide towards him. Something about the capris pants that had rolled cuffs at just below her knees, and the baggy sweatshirt drew his eyes for a closer inspection. The site of the fiery untamed curls of strawberry blonde locks flitting about in the breeze made Tom's heart skip a beat. He blinked his eyes and tried to focus them more intently on the woman still some fifty yards or so away but moving closer.

Addy closed her eyes for a moment as a chill climbed her back, her exposed forearms broke out in gooseflesh. She could remember the last time she had felt that, it was the night... the night that everything went wrong. She took a long stuttering breath in and held it for a moment before letting it out again in a long sigh. When she opened her eyes again to look once more towards the setting sun, she saw a shadowy silhouette in the near distance walking towards her from further up in the dry sand along the dunes. There was something about the figure's gate, that was... familiar.

Now only twenty yards apart, the woman looked up towards him, or more likely towards the setting sun at his back. Tom's breath caught in his chest. His heart began racing... is it? Could it be? A gusting breeze blew the curly loose hair from her face.

Addy's brows knitted and she cocked her head slightly to one side. She reached up and pulled her glasses down from her hair into place over her dazzling blue eyes. She squinted against the glare of the setting sun... and she stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart skipped a beat then two... then it began to race excitedly. Her hand clutching the scarf went lax and the scarf flew off on the blustery breeze.

Tom's slow advance sped up. Halting steps became strides... each step bringing him closer and his vision became clearer.

Addy's bottom lip began to tremble, her dazzling blue eyes grew cloudy as they filled with tears... and then she was running...

Like a scene from many a romantic movie, so cliché and overdone but so very real... Tom and Addy collided. Tom swept her up in his arms and twirled her around and around. When they stopped spinning, they were locked in a lovers' embrace, lips trying to consume each other, laughing and crying at the same time... time... time stood still.

..... The toe headed little boy sat dejectedly on the steps of the back porch. His little elbows propped on his knees, his frowning bored little face rested in his upturned palms. He was still cross that he hadn't been allowed to go with his momma and daddy. Instead, he had had to stay home with his aunt. Oh, she was nice enough, and she had made cookies for him, his favorites even, chocolate chip. Still though, momma and daddy had said today was the big day, daddy was especially excited about it. He'd never seen his daddy so excited. It was funny to see him running around the house and back and forth from the car, he'd almost driven off without momma. He got halfway down the driveway before he realized momma was still standing on the porch talking to aunty. That had been early this morning. Now the sun was going down and he was getting tired of waiting.

He took another deep breath and sighed, puffing out his cherubic little cheeks, his chocolate brown eyes seemed to glaze over. Then, he noticed... a car slowed on the road and turned into the driveway. His little chocolate chip-stained mouth fell open a little as his head raised up to get a better look. It WAS THEM! Leaping to his feet, he darted to the screen door and yelled inside.

"Deeny! Deeny! It's them! They're home! Deeny come quick!" little Tommy shouted in his falsetto like voice before turning and darting down the steps to stand in the driveway just off the porch.

From inside the house, a soft chuckling laughter could be heard as the old woman made her way towards the back door limping along with the use of her cane.

"Like father, like son." The old woman said with a sardonic grin as she pushed the screen door open and stepped to the handrail at the edge of the back porch. "Mind the car, Tommy!" She said in a louder voice to warn the rambunctious four-year-old.

The dusty sedan pulled to a stop about ten feet from the porch. Tom killed the engine before opening his door and walking quickly around to the passenger side of the car and opening the door for Addy. She turned haltingly in her seat to put her legs out of the car and then with bundle in her arms she stood up slowly with Tom's help at her elbow. Tom was still nervous and excited, almost spastic in his caution trying to protect both mother... and baby.

Little Tommy was hopping up and down, bobbing left and right trying desperately to get a glimpse of this bundled up curiosity that everyone was making such a fuss over. Holding onto Addy's elbow, Tom helped her climb the steps on the back porch and they paused outside the back door for Deeny to lean in and have a peek inside the bundled pink blanket. Her smile was sheer delight and her old eyes twinkled just before they began to fill with tears. Tears of happiness of course.

Meanwhile Tommy was still trying to get a glimpse, and not having any success at all. His little lips puckered up in an aggravated pout and his little hands were balled into little fists. It would have been fitting if he had stomped his little sneaker covered foot, but he didn't. Instead, he followed his momma and daddy, and aunt Deeny into the house. They went through the kitchen and the dining room to the parlor. Momma eased down onto the couch as if she were sore. She cradled the little pink bundled blanket and for the first time Tommy heard a noise. It almost sounded like a frog to him and that made him even more curious and desperate to see this thing that has everyone so excited.

Tom saw little Tommy eyeing the blanket and knew just what his son was thinking. He glanced into Addy's eyes and she smiled knowingly and nodded her head. Tom knelt down next to the couch and put his big hand on little Tommy's shoulder and eased the boy closer to his momma's side.

"Tommy... we'd like you to meet someone. This is your little sister, Madeleine. She's brand new and a little scared. She's going to need someone to look after her..." Tom said softly as Tommy edged a little closer, timidly but even more curious.

Addy gently pulled the soft pink blanket aside uncovering a squirming pink little miniature person. There was thin hair, as red as fire atop of the little head, thin little red eyebrows, a button nose and tiny little pink lips that were slobbery and little pink tongue stuck out. Two little balled up tiny tiny little hands waved about. The little head turned a little this way and that and that sound came out again, only now Tommy knew it wasn't from a frog after all.

Leaning a little closer Tommy reached out his little right hand to gently touch this squirmy little creature. It was so soft, and warm... then a tiny hand opened up and those tiny little fingers wrapped around his little index finger. Tommy froze... and then the eyes opened up and looked right at him... It was as if he looked into the rising sun. Those little eyes were so bright and clear and so dazzlingly blue... Tommy stopped breathing, his little mouth hung slack as his whole world compressed into the sensation of his finger being held by that tiny little hand and those dazzling blue eyes staring into his.

"H... Hi... Madelu... Madali... Maddy." Tommy all but whispered in hushed amazement.

~finis~